American McGee Not Impressed With Sony PS4 And Believes SimCity Gamers Need To Relax

Game industry veteran American McGee has been involved in some of the biggest shooter franchises of all time. These days, as head of Spicy Horse Games, he has been focusing on original mobile games designed for cross-platform gameplay. He made the news recently by asking his Facebook fans if they’d be interested in a new Alice 3 game – something gamers

answered with an overwhelming yes. He’ll be meeting with Electronic Arts, which owns the Alice IP, at GDC 2013 to see if there might even be the potential for a third Alice interactive adventure.There’s been a ton of negative media attention and anti-publisher sentiment from PC gamers of late following the digital rights management (DRM) issues that plagued the launch of Electronic Arts’ SimCity game. EA Maxis, which like Blizzard

Entertainment’s Diablo III launch last year, wasn’t able to keep up with online demand for the game. McGee, who lives in Shanghai and has seen firsthand why DRM is important to fight piracy, addresses the still-burning controversy with a candid response. He also explains why he’s more excited about the exploding mobile gaming category than Sony’s PlayStation 4 and talks about going to hell in his brand new game in this exclusive interview.

As a veteran of the PC gaming industry, what are your thoughts on DRM and the fan outcry we’ve seen with PC game launches like Diablo III and SimCity at launch?

There are right and wrong ways to solve the problem, for sure. Customers have a right to expect that products they’ve purchased perform as advertised. That being said, developers and publishers face extinction if they can’t solve the piracy issue while at the same time addressing the demands gamers make regarding connected and accessible games (I see these two things going together). Being in China all I see are companies who have

solved these issues and customers who are happy with the results. Western developers have some obstacles to overcome before they get there. Not sure I see how incendiary media coverage or player reactions are warranted when things don’t work as expected. Do gamers or the media think EA or Blizzard wanted things to go so badly at launch? Do they think all the screaming and

gnashing of teeth actually helped resolve those issues more quickly? There’s got to be a balance to the relationship. Just because you’ve given a restaurant your business doesn’t entitle you to throwing molten cheese fries in your waiter’s face if your margarita comes out frozen instead of on the rocks. People need to relax a little and stop turning everything into World War III – Gamers vs. The Man. There are no winners in that scenario.

I was hoping for innovation in control input. Didn’t see anything meaningful, so “meh.” It’s nice that they’re moving towards what looks like more developer-friendly hardware and indie friendly distribution. Remains to be seen if the appearance matches reality. Overall, I think this generation of consoles will struggle painfully against the momentum of mobile/online games we’re seeing globally.

What do you see the next generation of consoles opening up for you as a game developer?

At present it just looks like another distribution channel with not much to differentiate from other outlets (aside from sheer horsepower)
.What impact do you feel the advancing gaming power of tablets will have on the games business moving forward, even as next gen consoles enter the market?

We’re seeing a lot of blurring between categories as tablets become more like consoles and consoles began to flaunt more and more always-connected and social features. The distinction between “tablet” and “phone” is also blurring as we’re seeing mini-tablets and mega-phones gaining in popularity

simultaneously. Ultimately, people are going to choose based on power, size and convenience – and I think we’re going to see devices emerging which change their form, function and interface depending on where or for what

they’re being used. More than anything it’s interface that’s going to drive the most significant change – things like Oculus Rift will radically change people’s demands and expectations – that’s where the real revolution is going to start.

What excites you about the potential of the fast-evolving mobile gaming space?

It’s the evolution of interface that gets me most excited. Nothing will be able to compete with full immersion and seamless interface being powered by a processor stack in your pocket.

How do you see the evolution of multi-screen gaming, especially with today’s younger gamers, impacting the way games are made moving forward?

We’re already seeing really interesting data coming out of our first cross-platform/device game, Crazy Fairies. Thirty to forty percent of our players are now engaging with the game on both web/client (Mac or PC) and on their smartphones (mainly Android at this point). That’s something I heard publishers saying “would not appeal” just 12 months ago. Now everyone is rushing into the space, trying to figure out how to offer unlimited

connectivity into games from as many platforms and devices as possible. This again fits in with an evolution towards always connected ubiquitous gaming (and computing in general).

What’s SpicyWorld all about?

It’s a micro-social platform we built for self-publishing our own games and games from other developers of online content. We’ve seen some really healthy growth over the past couple of months – just passing 350,000 registered users. All that’s been organic, without marketing and with a lot of support from our community. What’s great for us is that it provides a unique

conduit straight to our audience – a place where they can post ideas on our forums, engage with suggestions/bugs via ZenDesk and chat directly with us in real time. You’ll often find me lurking in the chats, talking with people about ways to improve our games. We’re excited to see the platform growing and looking forward to adding more great games from other developers this year.

What will Spicy Horse Games be showing at GDC 2013?

We’re showing off our three existing online titles, BigHead BASH, Crazy Fairies, and Akaneiro: Demon Hunters. I’m also going to be meeting with other developers to talk about bringing their titles to our SpicyWorld platform.

Can you say anything about the new game you’ll be demoing at GDC for the first time?

For the past couple of months we’ve been working on an online/mobile CCG set in hell. It doesn’t have a final name yet, but the story revolves around rescuing souls from hell by collecting and fighting an army of demons. It’s got a beautiful dark art style and really deep, engaging storyline. During GDC we’ll be sure to release some screenshots, concept artwork and additional details. Expect to see the game released around May 2013.

meh. I can't be arssed to think of anything else to say, really. Everyone wants to make a cheap-to-develop game, put it up on Android and iTunes and watch the millions come in. I get it. That being said, gaming will become a heap of shovelware if that is the direction everyone goes.

Developers that earned their chops back in the 80's know too well what happens when you take it for granted that gamers are just a walking talking strip mine to rape and pillage. The game producers that don't just give in will be the ones that have a respectable name when gamers demand quality again. It's a cycle just as real as any.

Control input? $#@! off man. The classic controller is just find for me. $#@! the Wii and WiiU's gimmicky inputs. Fads and nothing more. They add nothing to the experience.

Also, all I keep hearing is this "mobile gaming" that is going to dominate. I just don't see it. I have yet to have a mobile game that I "had to have". Plus the control input for mobile games frustrates me. It's not comfortable and the games are not high quality. I honestly do not see mobile games overtaking the console market with it's quality offerings.

Think of the temptation it is for a recognized developer to make a cheap ass $60 -$100,000 dollar budget game for mobile phones. They can pizazz up their game description by putting in the other games they've worked on compared to startup indie developers who don't really have a name to cash in on yet.

That's what it all boils down to. Of course he's not excited about systems that are going to take years of development time and millions to make a game for. He's been there done that. Now he's going to make a quick buck off of the name he has made by making real legitimate games.

I hate to sound nasty, but that's exactly what it is. If Hideo Kojima or Shiggs made a mobile game, they could spend next to nothing making a 4 hour long game and rake in millions. Fortunately, they have the foresight not to do such a thing.

I love how he tells gamers to ease up about a game they can't play because the company that released it thought it was a grand idea to have an always online game. Now its broken because of said always online. Yeah ease up because you were screwed out of a game that you payed money for.

Consoles and iPad again, does he even realize that its his laptop he doesn't carry around with him anymore, mobile devices are killing the PC platform more then anything, people don't unplugs there PlayStation and pack it away to play mobile games
They do sell/dont use there PC/Laptop because all those facebook games/shopping/browsing can be done on Mobiles devices

Love it when devs who dont make that great of games, knock the hardware.
Alice wasnt that great, Alice Madness returns was ok, and his newist free to play (browser) game isnt all that great either (enough to hold my interest anyways)

Exactly, I've had an ipod touch and I was into the hype of apple, brought many many games but after the initial 10 minutes I realized these games are nothing but flash games, a good quick playthrough and that is about it, the max I put is probably like 3 hours into Zombie driver ( something like that)
Any game that is even ahead of games like angry birds is horrible due to performance or controls, or both ( GTA)

Nothing on the vita or its game either.

Heck I would pick the arena in Fifa football over EVERY handheld game!

Not even close to the level of the majority indie games on the console.

I actually finished Alice II, not bad for a mid-list first person shooter, though it didn't really live up to the promise of the concept. It certainly wasn't triple A when it released, it felt like it was a year or two behind.

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